bottled drinking water
water filters with tanks like zero water
flash lights, fresh batteries
propane tank and camp stove
mylar blankets
fire wood
matches, lighters, fire starters
medicines you need daily and general antiseptic cleaners, bandages, first aid items
keep your car's gas tank full. If possible safely store a 5 gal. jerry can with gas.
canned goods including soups, spam, pasta, vegetables, fruits, things that keep without refrigeration
yes, toilet paper
soap, bodywash.
water for flushing toilets, washing, cooking Don't forget your hot water tank as a source.
solar powered battery charger for cell phones.
guns and ammo for defense, hunting
photograph all important papers and documents in case you can't grab them to take with you and backup if possible.
backup your computers to small portable drives.
fiat money might be worthless in a crisis. Always have some higher karat gold that can be accessed quickly if you need to move. Small gold coins, 18k or link chain that could be broken down into smaller links for trading. Stash in small coin in each shoe under the cushion.
A plan that you discuss with family and friends containing ways to contact each other if power and cell towers are out, rendezvous places should you need to move or bug out.
If shit's ever so bad that we're back to the barter system, why do people think a shiny rock with not practical use is the solution?
If you want to stock post-collapse trade goods get dried grains, alcohol (both kinds), smokes, water, ammo (even/especially calibers you don't use) and TP.
In a total societal collapse you'll find more people willing to trade for a bottle of water than a bar of gold.
Gold & silver are wildly undervalued, more so with silver. A stash of precious metals helps PRESERVE your wealth during a currency collapse and will likely increase in value when the monetary system changes.
You can't eat precious metals any more than you can with paper currency, but PMs will hold value and can be used to purchase necessary items. One-ounce silver rounds can be useful to acquire food, fuel, ammunition, alcohol and other items.
Ok, but you didn't answer my question. If shit's this deep no one is trading for PMs.
You guys are both right, but for different levels of SHTF. PMs won’t help you survive the first days, but they can help later
As a guy that spent 6 weeks in the Iraq desert on ration packs nearly two decades ago; hot sauce and other spices will keep your moral up when you're eating food that has the taste of cardboard
Don’t let people smell you cooking outside. You’ll be using ammo for more than hunting
Very important. Many don't think about this. You can definitely tell just by looking.
3 big things not on the list(my.opinion). Oil for cooking, salt, iodine.
Oil goes rancid fast. Stock up on Crisco!
Inexpensive Bidets. During the last shortage, I purchased 2 bidet units for under $50 each on line. These attach to existing toilets & water line in under 30 minutes. Greatly reduces need for TP except for drying. :-)
If you have babies in your group then diapers, wipes, and food/snacks for them.
If you have women in your group, feminine hygiene products.
Oral hygiene products.
Cold and allergy meds.
Laxatives and anti diarrhea (when the shizzy hits the fizzy you don't know which way your stomach will react)
Solar garden lights so that you can set them out during the day then bring them in at night
Walkie talkies. Very important. If shit hits the fan I doubt phones will work for communicating.
Also, don’t forget about your pets. They need food and water too.
Water bottles is sorta eh to me. I’d rather keep my water tanks full and pour into smaller containers if I needed too. But then again I live in the country away from people.
you really only have to store for a few weeks to a month. Anything more than that there is no point. Store enough for your family and the people around you. Share willingly and trust that the plan does not include months for the entire country being completely shut down.
Q has already said as much.
I would see after a couple of weeks, people taking matters into their own hands (after a specific 'event') with re=opening vital services (water tx plants, possibly electric) and running those without 'company authorization'. Also, I suspect that such a scenario has already been planned out by FEMA for re-starting vital services (medical, energy, nourishment to the masses) in the event of an EMP or other catastrophe. I don't see a Mad Max scenario except by a few people losing their sanity and going scorched Earth, by themselves, until someone else remedies that situation.
With regards to the list - I believe the most difficult supply to stockpile will be water. The water supply was disrupted at my house a few weeks ago for 3 days (water main break) and I took that as a test run to see how much water my household would need in an emergency. We went through more than I EVER dreamed in just drinking/cooking/teeth, dishwashing, and basic personal hygiene (whore's baths, flushing).- No clothes washed at all. Very eye-opening, and I, fortunately, didn't have to water the garden during that time at all (it rained one day).
Water is the last thing I would worry about where I live. You can drive much more than a mile without crossing a river or creek. You can get to the water table with just a shovel. Drilling a well is simple. It also rains a lot, so catching roof runoff is easy. You can actually put a catchment tank outside near one of your indoor commodes and flush the toilet directly with rainwater.
I don't water anything in the yard. If I don't mow, the yard becomes a jungle quickly.
Get a good pair of boots and start breaking them in now.
mylar blankets > 100% wool blankets.
KI pills. I also have gas masks with extra canisters. Candles, towels. Camp-style washing machine. Pots/pans, aluminum foil, Coffee, sugar, powdered milk/creamer. Flour, dry pasta.
Go 'emergency camping' with your family to practice evac, camp set up, meetup location, destination.
BTW, matches do almost last forever. I still have a ton of "strike anywhere" kitchen matches from Y2K. I light one occasionally to make sure they still strike and burn. Over 20 years, and they all still light up.
I do have the magnesium fire starter, an old-fashioned Zippo with fluid and extra flints, and some other fire starting methods as well. You always need multiple ways to do things.
I don't expect to be lighting enough fires to go through all the matches I have. But I do have the backup fire starting methods. "Two is one, and one is none."
EMP is why people should have some electronics, such as radios, cameras, etc. stored in Faraday cages. We need to be able to contact others and to document things for the future.
Dried pinto beans.
Cheap. Great protein replacement. Good for minimum 2-3 years, 25-30 years if stored properly. Staple of the American frontier where food was often scarce.
Butterbeans, black eye peas, crowder peas, navy beans, and more. Pinto beans are my least favorite.
One secret tip here: If you want old beans to cook soft, don't salt them at the start of cooking. Wait until they get soft.
We use inexpensive indoor aero gardens to easily produce lettuce, herbs and more. One has produced multiple cuttings of tasty lettuce - and it still going.
You can also purchase LED lights for low-cost, discreet indoor growing.
May want to add some Mad Max'esque accessories on the list for your vehicle's intimidation factor while out and about.
I think most of it has been covered but if you store water in jugs, sometimes they leak. I ruined a portion of hardwood floor storing it in a regular room. One bottle just randomly cracked and had a slow leak. Now I put all my water jugs in an unused shower. Some of us don’t have basements or space for storing things so you have to get a little creative. Plan on minimum one jug per person, per day for two weeks or more if you have space.
I said this below but I’ll say it again. Crisco. Buy it now. It can be used for cooking but other things such as a long burning candle and actual heating (see YouTube e) regular cooking oil goes rancid fast. Plan on having some but grab Crisco when you’re shopping.
Plastic eventually gets brittle. I found that out decades ago with a plastic bottle of shampoo. I accidentally dropped it, and it shattered. Try cleaning up a full bottle of shampoo spilled on the floor.
LOL I actually had a bottle of Dawn spill when it tipped over on a shelf. Took forever.
The water I had that spilled wasn’t that old. I think it just cracked on a seam. I had moved things around a few times and probably was a little rough.